Wednesday, February 8, 2017

In
Triplicane, Cricket is another religion
~ Cricket rasikas could nonchalantly talk not only about Tony Lewis’s England;
Clive Lloyd’s Windies – in the same breathe about Buchibabu, CB Selvakumar
breezy innings in Hindu trophy and of some great innings played at Beach
cricket ! MorappakamJosyamGopalanwho delivered the first delivery in Ranji
trophy hailed from here. CR Rangachari
who sent George Headley’s stumps flying was another.

Gavaskar walking out with Srikkanth at Chepuak

Records
are meant to be re-written ! We grew up seeing Gavaskar moving to 21st
century – scoring 21 tons – then stopping @
34. Though India played its
first Onedayer in 1974 – till 1983 – no Indian had scored a century, until
KapilDev scripted a famous 175 not out against Zimbabwe, walking in at
17/5. From 171 of Glenn Turner – the highest in an ODI progressed – 175 –
189 – 194 – then came the 1st double hundred by Sachin
Tendulkar and now 264 of Rohit Sharma.

Exceptional talent at School level is
not entirely new. Sachin Tendulkar who
climbed so many peaks, had the school record under his belt for long - an unbeaten 326; Vinod Kambli’s 349 and their
664 partnership in Feb 1988. 18 years
later in Nov 2006 – that was broken when
St. Peters High School made 721 without loss in 40 overs against St. Philip’s
High School at Hyderabad. Openers Manoj
Kumar and Mohammed Shaibaz, both 13, hit an unbeaten 320 and 324 respectively
in the Hyderabad Cricket Association Inter-School Under-13 tournament. In 2011, another youngster came to
limelight… it was Maharashtra’s middle
order leftie – Vijay Hari Zol who was later signed up by RCB too. In an U19
match for Maharashtra, Zol scored an unbeaten 451 off 467 deliveries. Prithvi Shaw, a 14-year-old from Mumbai,
smashed 546 runs – in a Harris Shield match at the Azad Maidan in
Mumbai. S. Sankruth Sriram struck a
brilliant unbeaten 486 in the Nilgiris District Cricket Association (NDCA)
under-16 inter-school cricket tournament.
Then there was the son of auto-rickshaw driver in Kalyan,
PranavDhanawade of KC Gandhi English High School, overhauling Mumbaikar Prithvi
Shaw's record but every other batting record in minor record. He went on to score a 1000.

In 1988, Graeme Hick hammered 405 at Taunton and Sport Star in its cover wrote
Hick, Hick, Hick, Hick. – now comes the news that MohitAhlawat has scored a 300
~ special for the triple century has come in a T20 match – off mere 72 balls
includes 39 sixes and 14 fours !

Media reports are agog that an astonishing innings of 300 not out has
propelled Mohit Ahlawat into cricket’s history books – and prompted the opening
batsman to put his name forward for the lucrative Indian Premier League – by
becoming the first player to score a triple century in a Twenty20 match. Appearing
for his team, Maavi XI, in a Friends Premier League match at Delhi’s Lalita
Park, Mohit creamed 39 sixes and 14 fours from just 72 balls to reach the
remarkable milestone. Having reached 250 after 18 overs, the
wicketkeeper-batsman finally decided to throw caution to the wind, and he added
a further 50 runs off the final two overs, including 34 from the last six balls
– and five consecutive sixes to finish.

He ended unbeaten on exactly 300 as
Maavi posted a commanding total of 416-2 from their 20 overs. In the least
surprising news of the day, the run chase proved too much for the opposition,
Friends XI, who despite scoring a respectable 200 in their innings still fell
short by 216 runs.

In 2007, Sri Lankan DhanukaPathirana
scored 277 from 72 balls in a local Lancashire T20 league match. But in the top
tier of the professional game, no player has hit even a double century.The
current benchmark was set by Chris Gayle in a 2013 IPL match between the Royal
Challengers Bangalore and Pune Warriors, but the West Indian’s 175 from 66
balls pales in comparison to Mohit’s recent efforts.

In a T20 International, the highest as
of now is 156 by Aaron Finch, followed by Glen Maxwell 145*; Shane Watson 124*;
123 Brendon McCullum& 122 by Babbar Hayat of Hongkong against Oman.